LABOUR’S former deputy leader Lord Hattersley has described Sir John Butterfill’s response to the revelations about his finances as the “most extraordinary thing” of the whole expenses affair.

Meanwhile a Conservative campaigner claimed the Bournemouth West MP was “toast” after the story about his claims under the second home allowance.

Sir John appeared on BBC2’s Newsnight on Wednesday to claim he had been “misrepresented” in the Daily Telegraph. He conceded he had made a mistake in claiming mortgage interest for the whole of his mansion in Woking, Surrey, and “I didn’t separate from that the value of the servants’ or the staff wing”. But he said he cleared the claim with the Commons’ fees office.

Lord Hattersley responded on the programme: “I think Sir John Butterfill’s response tonight was the most extraordinary thing of the whole saga because he doesn’t seem even now to understand what it is people are complaining about.

“At least some of the miscreants seem to have understood the nature of their mistakes, their errors, their sins, but Sir John seems to be wholly out of touch with the real world as it’s now perceived.”

John Strafford of the Campaign Conservative Democracy was asked what activists would think of Sir John’s defence and said: “I think he’s toast. I’m just tearing my hair out.”

He added: “A lot of these MPs are going on to the next general election and in the meantime they’re going to pick up £200,000 or so in salary, expenses and termination payments. The public really strongly object to that and they want to see people go out of the House of Commons now.”

Yesterday, former Conservative councillor David Clutterbuck – who split from the party in 2006 – said supporters who worked for Sir John had been “badly let down”.

“I went limping around when I was waiting for my hip to be done, limping around Westbourne house to house. I feel I’ve been stabbed in the back,” he said.

And he recalled Tory councillors in the constituency being asked to pay £200 a year from their allowances to help the party.

“We paid this for several years. I find it incredible we were doing this when there was all this going on,” he said.